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NOVEMBER, 1893.]
FOLKLORE IN SALSETTE; No. 17.
313
another week or so, and, promising to come on a certain day to take her home, he went away. When the prince was gone the queen still shewed the same kindness to the princess.
One day, the queen called her daughter aside and said to her :-"When you go to the well to-day to fetch water, the princess, as is her wont, is sure to come to help you. If she happens to draw water from the well, you peep in and say to her - oh, how beautiful your reflection is in the water! Then ask her to let you wear all her jewels, which she will certainly not refuse you to do, and ask her how you appear with all the jewellery. When she again stoops to draw water, hold her by her legs and throw her into the water, and come home sharp."
The girl promised to do exactly as her mother said.
During the course of the day the girl took up a vessel and told her mother she was going to the well to fetch water. Upon this the princess also took up another vessel and followed her step-sister to the well. Now, while the girl was rinsing and washing the vessels the princess began to draw out water from the well, upon which the girl also peeped inside and suid :
“Oh, sister, how beautifully you reflect in the water! Suppose I put on your jewels, shall I also look as beautiful P”
The princess, who did not, in the least, suspect any foul play, stripped herself of all her jewellery and put it on her step-sister, who then went and looked in the well, saying :-"Oh sister, I do, indeed, look very beautiful with all the jewellery, but, I must confess, your beauty beats mine hollow. Come, remove the jewels from my person and wear them yourself. Who knows, I may lose some, or some of them might drop into the well."
The princess, however, said there was no necessity to be in such a hurry to remove them, but told her to keep them till they went home. The girl was only too glad that the princess was careless about the jewels. The princess now again began to draw water, and as she stooped to draw a bucket from the well, the wretched girl caught her by her legs, and, throwing her in, ran away, carrying the vessels they had brought for water. The poor princess was soon at the bottom of the well and was dead.
A few days passed after this and the prince came to take his wife, the princess, home when the queen ushered in his presence, her own daughter, as his wife. Now, as we said before, this girl was about the same age as the princess, and in appearance, too, there was little or no difference, and even her voice did not betray ber. The prince, at first sight, had some misgiving about her, but thought that some circumstance or other might account for the very slight difference he perceived in her. He passed the day at his father-in-law's, and, taking his supposed wife with his child, went home. Before leaving the queen put in the place of her daughter's breasts cocoaput shells, which made them look bigger, and thus deceived the prince thoroughly. When they had reached home the girl behaved to the child exactly as a mother would, that is, she would give, or pretended to give, suck to the child, bathe him, and so on. But the child always kept crying, particularly during the day, for want of milk.
Now it happened that during the night, when all used to go to sleep, the princess, though she was really dead, used to come to her husband's house, and by some charm, put every person to & sound sleep; and entering the bed-room, she used to give suck to the child, and this kept the child from crying much in the night. After giving milk to her child, the princess would sit on the hindlas in the outer verandah, and sing :
“Orpháidí chili, thania karántti, háis karin gở mkuję bhartará môgi?
Orphundi chóli, thanid karániliyhdis kargo manje báld môgi? Orphandi chóli, thania karántli, hais kari gở manj sasrid nõgi ? Orphandi chili, thaniá kardili, h&is kasi g8 manje súort môgi ?
. l'ho madia is a cot suspended by four chains or ropes tied to the four corners, on which people sit and swing about with their feet. It is favourite article of farniture in the houses of natives, and those of the Bombay East Indians in Salsette. It is generally suspended in the outer verandah.
